THE chairman of the National Minorities Commission, Mr M S Qureshi is doing neither India nor Islam proud by demanding a review of the Centre’s decision to allow Taslima Nasreen, the internationally acclaimed novelist from Bangladesh, to stay on in this country.
Mr Qureshi has based his demand on the recent violence in Karnataka over an article in a Kannada newspaper which was purportedly written by Taslima Nasreen. Taslima has issued a statement saying she never wrote that article, and lamented that some elements are making deliberate attempts to malign her and create disturbance in the society in her name. But Mr Qureshi, instead of sympathising with the wronged author, goes on to write to the Union Home Minister, Mr P Chidambaram and External Affairs Minister, Mr S M Krishna, that the contentions made in the article are ‘derogatory, humiliating and insulting’ to the ‘Prophet of Islam, women in Prophet’s family and his colleagues’. Taslima’s denial of authorship would fall on Mr Qureshi’s deaf ears who would go on ranting about this ‘blasphemous piece of prose’.
Mr Qureshi goes on say that in the article (which Nasreen says she has never written) ‘the verses from Quran and references from Hadith have been twisted and interpreted in a way that portray a savage and heinous image of Islam’. And Mr Qureshi then concludes that India must withdraw its hospitality to Taslima Nasreen because she is in the ‘chronic habit of cursing, demonising and making a mockery of religion in general and Islam in particular’.
It is quite obvious that Mr Qureshi is one of those Muslim leaders in the country who see Taslima Nasreen very differently from how the rest of India and most of the Western world sees her. While to others she represents a human rights case–because she is hunted and haunted by intolerant sections of Muslims in her own country who won’t allow anyone to express anything that, in their blinkered opinion, does not follow and applaud the tenets of Islam–she, to a section of Muslims such as Mr Qureshi in this country, as to several Muslims in the world, symbolises virtual apostasy. But can we force anybody to hold only a certain view and no other view? Does Islam indeed consider differences of opinion on religious or social issues a most heinous crime punishable only with death? Did Prophet Mohammad say this? Does the Quran sanction such intolerance?
We have it on the authority of respected Muslim teachers that Islam teaches tolerance. It is this tolerance that makes it possible for the followers of Islamic faith to peacefully coexist with other religious traditions. Dr Muzammil Siddiqi, the President of the Fiqh Council of North America, says: "Tolerance is a basic principle of Islam. It is a religious moral duty. The Quran speaks about the basic dignity of all human beings. The Prophet spoke about the equality of all human beings, regardless of their race, colour, language or ethnic background. The Sharia recognises the rights of all people to life, property, family, honour and conscience."
Note the word ‘conscience.’ Is not Taslima’s a case of conscience? And if the Sharia recognises it, if the Prophet speaks about the equality of all human beings, regardless of their language or ethnic background, how could anyone sympathise with the extreme stance of the National Minorities Commission chairman that India must throw out Taslima Nasreen? How could Indian Islamic community as a whole support such a demand? Wouldn’t it be tantamount to saying that we must not allow this Bangladeshi author to stay in this land because Islam does not recognise any right to conscience, when actually it does it so clearly? The Indian Islamic community, rather than being swayed by mis-representatives of Islam like Mr Qureshi, would hopefully be guided by leading scholars of Islam like Dr Muzammil Siddiqi, who asserts: "Islam recognised from the very beginning the principle of freedom of belief or freedom of religion. It said very clearly that it is not allowed to have any coercion in the matters of faith and belief. The Quran says, ‘There is no compulsion in religion’ (Al-Baqarah 2:256)."
